Happy mothers on Mother's Day

Hallmark fused with Sinhala Buddhist traditions at the Mother’s Day celebration at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, Los Angeles, May 14. Children offered roses and gifts (provided by the temple), sat at their feet, and worshipped their mothers in unison. Participants were served rice & curry lunch cooked by one of the monks of DVBV with the assistance of several young community leaders. Mother’s Day in the US is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and is the most significant sales driver for the flower industry ($27 b) and third-largest card-sending holiday (113 million cards). Ven. Walpola Piyananda started the annual celebration at Dharma Vijaya several years ago. (Pic by Hassina Leelarathna)

Two Sri Lankan students are taking home awards from Intel Science Fair in L.A.

Two students from Sri Lanka did their country and their school proud winning special awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2017 held in Los Angeles May 14 – 19.

Photo (Left) shows Alujjage Sankalpa Perera and Shehan Pattiyage Kavishka who each won a special award (King Abdul-Aziz & His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity Special Award) in the Category of Earth & Biomedical Sciences at the Special Awards Ceremony held on 18 May 2017 for their Science Project on “Micro and nano engineering for wastewater: magnetized biochar and nanoparticle composite for toxic Cr(VI) removal."

U.S. interfered in 4 elections in Sri Lanka to help UNP, says American professor

The United States has interfered in at least four elections in Sri Lanka in order to help the United National Party, according to a US professor who is a leading expert on American and Russian interventions in foreign elections.

Prof. Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon university who has analyzed data from 117 elections in countries across the globe, including Sri Lanka, says his research in general has shown that these interventions are often directed from the highest levels of US government, i.e., the White House/senior cabinet secretaries. Different US government agencies have been used, based on the type of intervention. Local US embassy staff and ambassadors have been used for many public threats while the CIA has been the favorite conduit for campaign funding and "dirty tricks," he said in an interview with Sri Lanka Express.

Prof. Dov Levin

Federal agents raid televangelist Benny Hinn's offices in Texas

The Texas headquarters of well-known televangelist Benny Hinn (real name Toufik Benedictus Hinn) who has thousands of followers in Sri Lanka and South India and had connections in the past with the SL consul general’s office in Los Angeles was raided by federal agents, April 26.

Reports said criminal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service agents armed with a search warrant and United States Postal Inspectors were seen coming and going in and out of his headquarters in Grapvine in north Texas.

Benny Hinn conducting faith healing.

Trustee sues Rajaratnam to recover millions owed to creditors

Disgraced billionaire Raj Rajaratnam who is serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison for insider trading is facing a new lawsuit, this time in New York bankruptcy court.

An adversary proceeding filed April 18 by Alan Nisselson, trustee overseeing the liquidation of Galleon, says Rajaratnam paid himself around $131 million from Galleon Management LP, one of his company's units while he faced insider trading charges in 2010.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

Sri Lankan-American "Jeopardy" champ

Nilanka Seneviratne, an American of Sri Lankan descent, presently an international development nonprofit professional in Washington, D.C., emerged as the champion on the April 20th episode of “Jeopardy.”

Several dignitaries expected for DVBV stupa opening

Los Angeles – Minister of Justice & Buddha Sasana Dr. Wijedasa Rajapakshe and MP Udaya Gammanpila are among dignitaries expected to attend the ceremonial unveiling of the new stupa at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, May 20.

Vatican's Vesak Message

In a special message for Vesak, the Vatican has called on Catholics and Buddhists to emulate the founders of their respective faiths by working together to promote nonviolence and peace.

No New Year greetings from USA to Sri Lankans this year!

The US State Department seems to have struck Sri Lanka from its list for this year’s New Year greetings.

Sri Lankans at home and abroad celebrated the Sinhala & Hindu New Year April 13 & 14.

Lao, Khmer, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar who share the same New Year each received the traditional greeting on April 12 from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. For some reason, no greetings were extended to Sri Lankans.

Reading the tea leaves on ex CIA analyst

Lisa Curtis, Trump's point person for S. Asia

April 8, ,2017

Lisa Curtis a senior research fellow of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, also a former CIA analyst and a leading subscriber to Washington’s narrative that the 2015 regime change saw the birth of democracy in Sri Lanka, will be joining the National Security Council as Senior Director for South Asia.

In this position (not yet officially confirmed by the White House) she will be exerting considerable influence on President Trump’s South Asian policies, including future US-Sri Lanka relations.

E-learning, aka online courses or self-paced learning, is practically par for the course in the present-day workplace. Yet an 18-week online course in “economic diplomacy” for foreign service staff, offered by Harvard University’s Center for International Development (HCID) under its Growth Lab initiative, received a “ceremonial” launch at the foreign ministry office in Colombo, March 7.

What didn’t get any attention in reports of the event was the one fact that makes it newsworthy: that it is funded by the messianic (“I’m God”) billionaire George Soros via his flagship NGO the Open Society Foundations (OSF).

News Feature

A United States federal judge has placed a restraining order on bank accounts, several in Sri Lanka, owned or controlled by the defendants in the Cities Upliftment Program (CUP) fraud scheme that allegedly bilked investors worldwide to the tune of $50 million.

Accounts in NDB, HNB, HSBC, and Sampath Bank tied to Sri Lankan businessman Rienzi Edwards and his associates are among those targeted for criminal forfeiture.

Edwards and New Mexico resident Michael J. Jacobs, the alleged ringleaders of the bogus international investment scheme, and 4 other co-conspirators were indicted in December 2016 for wire fraud, impersonation of a U.S. employee, aggravated identity theft and various money laundering and conspiracy charges.